Close back on FX case

Actress returns to television for pilot

After her seasonlong stint playing police captain Monica Rawling in FX’s critically hailed drama “The Shield,” Close is reteaming with the cable network to star in a pilot for a legal thriller from Todd A. Kessler (“The Sopranos”), Daniel Zelman and Glenn Kessler.

Thesp will portray Patty Hughes, a high-stakes litigator, in the untitled one-hour.

Though story details are still being kept under wraps, project has been on the fast track at FX since day one. Execs picked the script up to pilot less than two months after it had been turned in, telling Daily Variety that the writers had found a way to crack the legal genre “with an FX twist” (Daily Variety, Sept. 26).

The Kesslers and Zelman wrote and will exec produce the pilot, which Allen Coulter (“Hollywoodland”) is directing. Sony Pictures TV and FX Prods. produce.

Production begins in New York in February.

Project is the second femme-driven drama FX is trying on for size. Courteney Cox tabloid hour “Dirt,” in which Cox stars as the editor of two popular celebrity tabs, premieres Jan. 2.